Battle of Mogadishu

The Battle of Mogadishu (3-4 October 1993) was a major battle of the Somali Civil War, occurring when the US Army Rangers were dispatched to capture Somali National Alliance leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid's aides Omar Salad and Abdi Hasan Awale in Mogadishu, Somalia. The mission went awry when a UH-60 "Black Hawk" helicopter was shot down, and the Rangers were trapped in a hostile city; they were forced to fight against thousands of Somali militiamen. Another helicopter sent to aid the Rangers was also shot down. The Rangers fought for a whole day before Pakistani, Malaysian, and more American troops arrived to relieve them, and they escaped to a Pakistani-held stadium. 19 Americans and 1,000 Somalis were killed in the battle, and President Bill Clinton decided to withdraw US forces from Somalia as a result of the negative publicity surrounding the "Black Hawk down" incident.